Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a tactical RPG game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. This is a full remake of the Famicom game, ''Fire Emblem Gaiden, the second installment in the Fire Emblem ''series.'' The games cutscenes were done by Studio Khara. The game follows Alm and Celica, childhood friends who set off on their own journeys across Valentia in order to restore peace. Plot Long ago, the sibling gods Mila and Duma fought for control over the continent of Valentia. Mila's worshipers would form the kingdom of Zofia, a land of plentiful bounty that over time spoiled and corrupted its people through complacency, while Duma's worshipers created the kingdom of Rigel, a desolate land whose people grew in strength but became numb to emotion. Gameplay New Features Pre-release screenshots shown that the magic stat was removed, like the original game. Other new features include the world map now featuring the passage of time, reverting mistakes with Mila's Turnwheel artifact. amiibo Support The game also has amiibo compatibility similar to Fire Emblem Fates. The Alm and Celica amiibo figures can perform the following: *The Alm and Celica amiibo unlock special dungeons respectively called Duma's Ordeal and Mila's Ordeal. *Players can save the current strength of Alm or Celica in the game to the corresponding amiibo figure. *The Super Smash Bros. line of Fire Emblem amiibo will summon illusory copies of those characters that will act as a temporary ally for a single turn. This also sacrifices a portion of Alm or Celica’s health. *All other currently available amiibo will summon an additional monster in battle. Support and Base Conversations Acts Characters The entire cast from Gaiden returned, with two new playable characters, Faye, for Alm's party, and Conrad, for Celica's party, therefore bringing the playable roster to 34 characters. Three new antagonists also appear in the remake, Berkut, Rinea, and Fernand with the exception of Shizas, who was superseded by Berkut. Development Development for Echoes began following the completion of Fire Emblem Fates ''in 2015. Nintendo series producer Hitoshi Yamagami began considering a new ''Fire Emblem game for Nintendo Switch, but it was too early to be developing for that system. While considering what would come next, several Intelligent Systems staff said they wanted to introduce features that were removed from Fates in a remake of Gaiden. An alternative plan was creating an all-new game, but early planning was already in place for the planned Fire Emblem title for Switch, so it was considered too late to begin a third original 3DS game. Rather than the calling the game "New Gaiden", the team chose the English word "Echoes" to give it worldwide appeal, enable its differentiation from the other side stories within the Fire Emblem series, and as the potential branding for a new series of remakes. Gallery Reception Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic, getting a metascore of 81/100 based on 76 critic reviews.[https://www.metacritic.com/game/3ds/fire-emblem-echoes-shadows-of-valentia Metascore of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]Metacritic, Retrieved February 18, 2020 While on whatoplay.com, it receives an aggregate score (playscore) of 8.72 based on 47 critics and 3,4900+ gamer ratings.[https://whatoplay.com/3ds/fire-emblem-echoes-shadows-of-valentia/ playscore of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]whatoplay.com, Retrieved February 18, 2020 Reviews Famitsu gave the game a positive review, with all four reviewers praising the mechanical quality, dramatic story and the mechanics carried over from Gaiden. One reviewer said that the efforts spent on Fire Emblem Echoes had elevated Gaiden from being the series' black sheep. Kat Bailey of USgamer criticized it for being too hard, lacking elements of the series such as the weapon triangle, inventories that can hold more than one item, and marriage (which had just recently returned to the series in Awakening and Fates). However, she thought of the world map and dungeons positively. Martin Robinson of Eurogamer recommended the game, but did not believe it to be the best of the three 3DS games. Robinson liked the Mila's Turnwheel feature, believing it to be an "elegant alternative" to resetting the game, and hoped it would become series standard. Heather Alexandra of Kotaku criticized the game's pacing, believing the early game to be too slow, and the endgame too hard. Sales During its first week on sale in Japan, Fire Emblem Echoes sold 135,195 units, topping gaming charts and selling through 80% of its initial shipment. Upon its debut in the United Kingdom, the game was #5 in the all-format gaming charts.In Australia and New Zealand, the game was #2 in the all platform gaming charts, and #1 in 3DS charts. In North America, Shadows of Valentia reached #7 in the all-format gaming charts. According to the NPD Group, the release of Shadows of Valentia prompted a rise in portable sales. Merchandise In Japan, the game comes with cards for Fire Emblem Cipher and a Soundtrack collection of the game. The Valentia Complete edition includes more cards and a Bluray disc of high-defintion videos. In October 2017, ''Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'' Original Soundtrack which included more music including from the DLC was released. An artbook for the game, called the "Valentian Accordion", will be released in Japan on March 30, 2018. No overseas release for the artbook has been confirmed. Trivia *''Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'' had the shortest wait between Japanese and international release of a mainline Fire Emblem series title yet, with English-speaking fans having to wait a mere 29 days after the Japanese release. The most quickly localized game previously was Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, whose first international version to be released, the PAL localization, was released five months after the Japanese version. *For April Fools' 2017, a new game called "''Fire Emblem: Battle of Revolution" (ファイアーエムブレム 維新大乱) was announced, for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS. It prominently features Valbar, Kamui, and Leon. It takes place in the Edo period of Japan. Some text on the website is in traditional vertical writing, and all character and location names were written in kanji with the katakana names as furigana. DLC featuring Marth in was also announced for "Battle of Revolution". There would also be scrolls as a limited bonus. It was stated to be released on April 20, 2017, the same date as Shadows of Valentia. *The spell Nosferatu can be used to kill Duma, despite the fact it is stated multiple times ingame only Falchion has this power. This is likely a reference to a glitch in the original Fire Emblem Gaiden with the same effect. *The term "Hero-King" is used to refer to Marth in New Mystery of the Emblem and Awakening, the significance of this is currently unknown, but appears to be drawing parallels between Alm and Marth. *This is the first mainline title from the Fire Emblem series to have full voice acting. *An "echo" is a repeated sound, possibly referring to its remake status. External links *Official English website *Official UK website *Official Japanese website References es:Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Category:2017 video games Category:Nintendo 3DS games Category:Intelligent Systems games Category:Tactical role-playing games Category:Remakes Category:Games published by Nintendo Category:Fire Emblem games Category:Nintendo games Category:Major Nintendo games